Glory and Vengeance
by Rhydeble
Summary: A decade ago, the Brockton Bay Brigade fought Marquis in his own home. After a desparate strike from Brandish killed his daughter, Marquis went berserk. Now, hotshot lawyer and single mother Annette Hebert has to take care of her two daughters, Taylor, and the adopted Vicky. Things go well, until Vicky gets powers. I'm probably not going to continue this. Chapter 5 is an AU of this
1. Chapter 1

**Glory and Vengeance – Part 1**

There was nothing as absolutely despicable as the first day of school, Vicky thought. It wasn't just that it was the end of the summer vacation, it also reminded her of every shitty little thing that Arcadia had to offer. Even the name itself was a lie. Sure, Arcadia was probably the best school in Brockton Bay, but that meant very little. A school like Winslow might be an even bigger shithole, but the only real difference was the thugs here didn't have knives.

She perked up as the bell rang, and class was done for the day.

"Hey Vicky, Fiona, you girls wanna go see that new Cape movie from Aleph?" Joanne asked her as they left the classroom together.

"What, the one with the sexy tinker in the flying armor? Hell yeah!" Vicky replied. "Didn't know it was out yet."

"Tonight's an early screening, and I managed to get my hand on three tickets!" she said, smiling.

"Do I want to know how you got your hands on those?" Vicky asked her friend, she already knew she didn't. Then again, she couldn't really blame Joanne for what she did, Brockton Bay being what it was. All the gifts were just nice extras.

"Vicky, you know it's not like that…" Joanne replied.

"He's like forty years old or something, it's fucked up," Vicky said. "Back me up on this Fiona,"

"I don't know… As long as you don't do anything you don't want to do… I don't really see the problem," Fiona replied.

"Seriously, I haven't given him more than a peck on the cheek. We don't all live in the towers Vicky, and this helps protect my family," Joanne said, defending herself.

"And it doesn't bother you that he, you know, murders people and shit?" Vicky asked her friend.

"He's not a thug Vicky, he does administration and stuff, he went to college." Joanne replied.

"For how late are the tickets?" Fiona asked, changing the subject.

"This afternoon, movie starts at four thirty," Joanne replied.

"Oh… that's during visitor's hours…" Fiona replied.

"Oh… didn't think about that, sorry," Joanne said.

Fiona's brother, Ryan, had been arrested two months back. A drug charge, plus some tacked on shit because he was a suspected ABB member. It was all entirely unfair to Fiona, but Lung's men took care of her and her family while her brother was doing time for them.

Brockton Bay really wasn't a place where you wanted to be a teenager without some sort of protection, and it showed. Half the kids in school were either in a gang, related to a gang member, or dating one. The other half was either rich enough for the Protectorate to give a shit about them, or desperately tried to stay in the background. Vicky was just happy that her father's life insurance and mother's career meant she belonged in the category of people who were rich, or rich enough

"Still got three tickets…" Joanne said.

"Want me to ask my sister? I bet she's as done as I am after her first day at Arcadia," Vicky said.

"Sure, sound fun, you'll finally have to introduce me to her," Joanne said, smiling.

"I'll go look for her quickly, I think I know what class she had this period. And Fi… good luck with your bro." Vicky said

"Thanks…" the Asian girl replied. "And I'd like to meet your sister someday too."

"Meet you at the froyo store?" Joanne yelled back.

"What, meaning I'll have to work out for half an hour to sweat it out again? We'll get some coffee instead!" Vicky said as she started to head towards her sister's classroom.

"Yeah sure, like that mocha-caramel shit is good for your waist!" Joanne yelled after her, but Vicky had already turned the corner, and didn't really have the time to yell anything back.

***

Marquis surrounded himself in plates of bone that resembled the petals of a flower blooming in reverse, and sank into the ground.

Any other day, Brandish would have followed him into the room below. A wine cellar, it seemed. But with what she'd seen of him today, here in his home, she had a better plan.

She turned towards the closet, the one he'd been nervous about, and charged it, creating a massive blade with her power. She held it back, and readied an overhead swing.

Barely half a second before she struck true, Marquis appeared from the ground again, crying out. "No!" he yelled, shooting out a shield of bone. The yelling was uncharacteristic, not like him. It didn't matter, Marquis' shied was too slow, and Brandish's great weapon completed its overhead arc, slicing into the closet from top to bottom, straight through wood, flesh, and bone.

***

Vicky rushed through hallways of Arcadia, through the section of the school containing the cafeteria, into the wing she needed to reach. Then, she practically flew up the stairs, long hours of basketball practice having trained her to make it in three jumps.

Third turn right, second turn left, and she made it to her sister's classroom.

Which was when she spotted the two girls surrounding her sister. One of them was a redhead that Vicky knew quite well, the other an African American girl she had never seen before.

"Or what, you're going to cry again?" Emma said to Taylor, tauntingly.

"Emma… why are you being so mean?" Taylor asked her best friend.

"Because I've gotten sick of your shit Taylor, it's time for you to grow up, seriously," Emma said back.

"I don't…" Taylor replied, unsure of what to say.

"We're not friend anymore Taylor, so get that bullshit out of your head!" Emma said to her.

Taylor stumbled forward, trying to plead with Emma, trying to understand what was happening, when the African-American girl pushed her away. "Stay away from us you loser," the girl said.

That was it, Vicky had no idea what had gotten into the normally sweet Emma, but she wouldn't stand by and let this happen.

"Hey, what the fuck do you think you're doing!" she yelled out as she started marching towards the girl.

"Who's this idiot?" the black girl asked Emma.

"Taylor's sister, total bitch," Emma replied.

As Vicky reached her sister's side, she folded her arms, and looked at the two girls sternly.

"I don't know what your problem is, but hands off my sister!" she said to the black girl. Then, she turned to Emma. "And you, what's gotten into you, seriously? Do you want me to go and talk to your father about this?"

Emma laughed and ignored her, turning towards Taylor again, who had just grabbed hold of Vicky's hand. "What, can't do shit without your fake sister defending you? You're pathetic!"

"Shut up Emma, seriously," Vicky said, placing herself in between her sister and the redhead.

"What, you think you're hot shit or something?" the black girl asked, standing in front of Emma in the same manner Vicky was standing in front of Taylor.

It looked ridiculous, Vicky thought. Four girls standing like this, a tiny fourteen year old trying to hold of the star of the basketball team. People had noticed, and quite a few of them were surrounding them now, waiting for the almost inevitable fight to break out. Vicky scanned her opponent, looking for hidden weapons and finding none.

"Leave, my sister, the fuck, alone." Vicky said.

"Fuck off," the girl replied. She pushed Vicky backwards, and Vicky stumbled into Taylor.

"Oh no you didn't," Vicky replied.

"Yes I did," the girl said, and she tried to push Vicky again.

This time, Vicky was faster, and she punched the other girl in the face before she could hit her.

The girl didn't yell, didn't stand back, she just laughed like an idiot.

"Ooooh, you fucked up," Emma suddenly said. "Sophia's important you know, she's got friends in high places."

"Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before," Vicky replied.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and a guy's voice whispered something in her ear.

"Yeah, except this time it's true," the voice said.

Vicky turned around, and saw a large guy standing behind her. Sporty, muscled, strong. The guy cracked his knuckles.

"What, you're gonna fight a girl?" she asked him, tauntingly.

"Not just me," the guy replied.

Vicky looked around herself, spotting people who had come forward from the crowd, quite a few of them.

The black girl, Sophia, wiped her bloody lip on her sleeve, and started talking again.

"Looks like you need to learn how to respect your betters," the girl said. "John, Eric, Charley, teach her a lesson will you?"

"Will do ma'am," the guy that had touched her shoulder said.

Before he could continue to do anything, Vicky ducked down, and launched a forward kick into his balls. The man stumbled, but before Vicky could continue, someone, Emma, had grabbed her hair, and pulled on it.

Vicky tried to turn around, tried to punch Emma in her stupid fucking face, but one of the other guys grabbed her arm.

She twisted, hitting the man in the knee with her left foot, and made him fall over, but he held on to her arm. A second later, the third thug grabbed her other arm, overpowering her with sheer strength.

The dude she'd delivered the nutshot to stood up again, and Vicky took pleasure noticing that he wasn't standing straight. The pleasure didn't last long, as the thug took aim and hit her in the stomach. Vicky tried to fight, but the two thugs holding her had a steady grip. In the corner of her eyes, she saw Emma and that Sophia girl standing. Sophia had a smug look on her face, while Emma's expression was just a tad horrified.

She looked around in panic, bracing herself for the next hit. Where was Taylor? Was she safe? Was she getting a teacher? Little good that that would do…

Again, the thug hit her. This time, he followed it up with a punch in Vicky's face. She felt her lip split open, and warm wetness came out of her nose.

This was bad, really bad.

***

For the second time in as many seconds, Marquis cried out, "No!"

This time however, it wasn't pleading. It was a cry of anguish, of hate, of death.

Lady Photon looked at her sister, at the closet she'd attacked. At the blood.

The girl's corpse had been cut in two, and Sarah couldn't look away. Her own children were just a few years older than this little girl.

They should've known, should've stopped themselves from attacking someone in his home, but Carol had convinced them…

Marquis dashed forwards, a spear of bone in his hand, rushing towards Carol. He would try to hit her in the leg, disable her, take her out of the fight.

Except he didn't. Instead, he aimed for the heart. Carol had still been in shock at seeing what she'd done, and was unable to change into her ball-shaped form as the bone lance pierced her chest. The moment Marquis saw the insides laid bare before him, he started manipulating Carol's bones.

Sarah Pelham's sister was dead within the second, killed by a man who's code stopped him from doing just that thing.

Then again, code's didn't really mean anything when someone just murdered your daughter.

Flashbang rushed forwards in anger, trying to avenge his wife. He too was reduced to ribbons of flesh by the anger of the Marquis.

"Neil! The children!" Sarah cried out as Marquis turned his attention to Lightstar.

She used her power to fly upwards, to get away from the boneheaded madman they had just created. She blasted a hole in the roof, trying to make it through, but fragments of bone had been spread through the area, and a spike lanced out from one of them, through her leg.

Seconds later, the Marquis charged her. The last thoughts on Sarah's mind were of little Eric and Crystal, hoping they would be safe.

***

Vicky flew through the stars, space twisting and turning around her. She saw herself from a thousand different perspectives, but couldn't figure out which was her.

The others felt familiar, but they weren't people, just… things? Strange things that shifted between worlds and between stars, but they were like family, and she was… she was not, not yet. She knew, somehow, that she was flying through the stars with her family. It was strange, wondrous and strange.

Slightly further out, she could see the rest. Still kin, still the same thing, the same greater family, but not like the three of them were, her parents. Even further out, another great clustering, a different one belonging to something which was at the same time equal and opposite.

Just barely, she could hear her family communicating with that other family, speaking in concepts of a single word that was also a library.

She opened her eyes again, and found herself in the infirmary. Taylor was bending over her, her long hair tickling Vicky's face.

"Hey sis," Taylor said.

"Hey…" she replied. Her lips, her tongue, her throat, her chest, everything hurt. She'd blacked out somewhere after the first hit, but it was clear that they hadn't stopped hitting her.

"You okay?" her sister asked.

"Yeah… I've had worse," Vicky replied.

"That's a lie and you know it," Taylor said.

"What, can't a girl look cool in front of her little sister?" Vicky asked, trying to laugh without it hurting too much. Trying not to pay too much attention to the things her body was trying to tell her, the impossible things.

"Idiot…" Taylor replied. "You know I'll always think you're cool, no matter what you do!" she said as she started laughing, too, happy that her sister was going to be all right.

Vicky tried to lift her torso, to sit instead of lie down. Instead, her entire body rose up from the bed, just a centimetre or so.

Quickly, she dropped down again, before Taylor could notice.

Okay… that was interesting, and worrisome.

***

Victoria started on her third pizza tonight, still watching TV, wondering when mom and dad would come home.

They'd said it wouldn't be long, that it would be just a few hours. Victoria had told them she was a good girl, that she could stay home alone for just a few hours. Just her and the TV, and a microwave pizza.

Victoria was smart, she knew how to use the microwave already, and she knew not to put any metal things in the microwave, so mommy and daddy trusted her with that.

But it was dark outside, and it had been dark for a while. All the tv-shows Victoria normally watched were done, and the stuff that was on right now was full of people yelling at each other, saying bad words, kissing, that sort of things.

It wasn't the sort of television a good girl should watch, but it was probably okay, because mommy had told her she could watch TV until they came back, and Victoria hadn't touched the channel.

She was getting awfully sleepy, but she wanted to stay awake until mommy and daddy came back. Maybe Uncle Philip would be there too, that would be great!

Eventually, she heard a car park outside, but it wasn't mommy and daddy's car. It was a car she didn't recognize.

She went to the door, and peeked through the little peeking hole. A tall thin woman in a nice suit stepped out of the car. The suit looked like the one mommy wore when she went to work.

Victoria recognized the woman now, from when mommy had taken her to work one day. She wasn't sure what the woman was called, but she knew the woman was Taylor's mom, and Taylor was really nice. Sure, Taylor was a bit younger than Victoria, but that didn't matter, because it meant Taylor was like a little sister. That also made Taylor way better than Eric and Crystal. Especially Crystal. She was older, and bigger, and kept stealing Victoria's dolls.

But something was wrong, Victoria saw. Taylor's mom wasn't being nice, she looked like she was afraid and in a hurry.

As Taylor's mom ran for the front door, Victoria took a few steps back.

Then, Taylor's mom rang the doorbell, and started knocking as well.

"Victoria? Victoria are you in there? You need to let me in, this is really important!" Taylor's mom yelled.

Victoria thought about it for a bit. Mommy had told her never to let stranger into the house, told her she might get kidnapped. But Taylor's mom wasn't a stranger, and she worked at the same place mommy worked. And mommy had also told Victoria to always help people in need, and Taylor's mom sure looked like she needed some help.

Victoria walked to the door, and opened it. The moment she unlocked the door, Taylor's mom swung it open and grabbed Victoria, holding her tightly to her chest. It felt strange. Whenever mommy hugged her, it was soft and bouncy, but Taylor's mom's hugs were more like daddy's hugs.

"It's alright Victoria, It's alright, I'll keep you safe," Taylor's mom said. Victoria wasn't entirely sure what Taylor's mom was talking about, but the woman lifted Victoria up, grabbed the set of keys that always hung on a tiny chain next to the door, left again, closing the door behind her, Victoria in her hands.

"Where are we going?" Victoria said, just about to panic. She liked Taylor's mom, but she wanted to be home for when her parents arrived.

"Somewhere safe sweety, I promise."


	2. Chapter 2

**Glory and Vengeance – Part 2**

It was about half an hour until Taylor's curly black hair was joined by its identical twin, and Annette entered the room.

"Mom!" Taylor yelled out as she ran towards Annette. Mom hugged her quickly, before walking towards the bed Vicky was sitting in.

"Got in a fight again?" she asked. She was clearly trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice, but Vicky still recognized it. She'd probably been working on an important case, a pro bono one, knowing her.

"Not much of a fight," Vicky groaned. Her chest still hurt, but it wasn't as bad as it had been when she'd woken up, and she was pretty sure it didn't have anything to do with the lacklustre painkillers she'd been given.

"That bad huh?" her mother asked, having taken hold of her hand.

"I don't like bullies," Vicky replied. She shot a look at Taylor, who'd suddenly gone silent. Did she not want Annette to know?

"Neither do I Vicky, but violence isn't always the answer," Annette said.

"So what? I should go get a teacher? You really think those guys are going to do anything? Have you seen this school? Someone had to do something! To take action! No-one else is going to so why not me?" Vicky replied. The teachers… yeah, they were going to break up a fight between students, totally, it wasn't like those same students would then show up on their doorstep with a gun and a parahuman in tow… They'd probably stop their little rivalries just to gang up on the uppity teachers.

Annette sighed, took Vicky's hand, and pulled her from the bed. "Sometimes, I forget how much like Carol you are… Just… promise me you won't get yourself killed?" she asked her.

"I'll try not to…" Vicky said. Yeah, she'd try, but if it really came down to it?

"Can you walk?" her mother asked.

"Yeah, I think so. It looks worse than it is, I think… Taylor wouldn't give me a mirror," Vicky said.

"You'd just start yelling about your makeup and foundation for an hour…" Taylor replied.

"That bad huh?" Vicky said.

"Come on you two, I have to get back to the office after driving you home," Annette said.

They walked through the now empty halls of Arcadia together, silent until Annette asked a question to Taylor.

"So, apart from Vicky getting into a fight, how was your first day?" she asked.

Taylor, finally cheery again, after having been hit so hard by Danny's death, went silent. Annette looked at Vicky with a questioning gaze.

"Her story to tell," Vicky replied.

"I… Emma has this new friend…" Taylor said. "She's… what Vicky was talking about."

"Now hold on a second," Annette said, standing still in the middle of the hallway. 'You're telling me Emma was bullying you?" she asked.

Taylor went silent again, obviously not wanting to talk about the situation.

Mom wasn't happy about that, but let it happen. They left the school, and entered the car. Taylor was sitting in the back, and Vicky decided to sit in front. Her sister probably wanted to be alone again, she could be a bit of a loner if Emma wasn't around. Emma, who had betrayed her sister, and was hanging out with some sort of gangland princess, what had that been all about? Vicky was pretty sure that Sophia girl wasn't ABB, and she most certainly wasn't part of Kaiser's group, which left three options. Teeth, Merchants, or the March. She shivered at the thought. It probably wasn't the Merchants, whatever else could be said, Sophia was in shape, and took care of her looks. That meant she was either part of a gang of violent psychopaths, or worked for an even more violent psychopath. She wasn't the type of person you messed with if you were smart. Not that that was going to stop Vicky from protecting her sister, it just meant she had to get better at it.

"You know, I'll be happy when you can finally get your license," Annette said as she started the car.

"Two more months, and then I'll actually have to start learning," Vicky replied.

"I know, but it means I can buy you a car, and the two of you won't have to take the bus anymore,"

"It's not that dangerous mom, you just gotta keep away from anyone that looks like they're trouble," Vicky said.

"And you're so very good at that aren't you?" Annette said.

"They were asking for it," Vicky replied. They'd had this conversation what must have been a thousand times.

"You always say that," her mother said.

"It's always true," Vicky said.

Her mother sighed, put the car in reverse, and drove of the parking lot.

***

Annette knocked on the frosted glass, waiting for the asshat inside to let her in.

"Come in" Alan called out.

He was a divorce attorney, a good one, but that just meant he was good at stealing money from people in a bad situation. Still, Danny had liked him, and the money he brought in for the firm meant she could do her pro bono work.

She barged inside, and looked at the redheaded lawyer who was currently bending over a large book of laws. Why he wasn't using the internet for this, she had no idea.

"Annette, didn't expect to see you again today after you suddenly rushed out. What happened?" he asked.

"Your daughter happened," she replied.

"Emma? What's wrong with Emma?" Barnes said.

"She was bullying Taylor, she and that new friend of hers," Annette said.

At that, Alan stood up, and walked towards the door, closing it. Then, he started speaking at a much lower volume.

"Look, I know this might sound weird, but just leave it alone, okay?" he asked.

"Leave it alone? Are you serious? Your daughter was suddenly bullying her best friend! Vicky ended up in the infirmary!" she said, anger in her voice. What the hell was Alan going on about?

"Look, it's… This girl, Emma's new friend? She has connections, connections that make it very difficult to do anything for me," he replied.

"That bad?" Annette asked, starting to realize just what kind of connections he was talking about.

"I think so, yeah. Second time she visited, she left early, got picked up by a black limousine, a reinforced one."

"So, some kind of gangland princess?" Annette asked. If this was what Vicky was dealing with, if this girl had set her sights on Taylor…

"Worse… Remember when we got caught up in that gang fight a few weeks ago? With the March girl and those Asian kids? Three days later, Emma shows up with Sophia in tow… I'd like to say it's a coincidence, but…"

"I… I'm sorry for lashing out at you Alan," Annette said.

"I can understand it, to be fair, I'm thinking about breaking my 'no moving, ever' policy. I checked, and it turns out that Brockton Bay is literally the only city that's designated as being too dangerous for a wards team," Alan said.

"I know, can't say I haven't had similar thoughts, especially after Danny died. But… it just feels like we'd be giving up, surrendering the city to the worst humanity has to offer. There's still good people here, we can't just let them suffer…" Annette replied.

"Good people? You should take my job for a bit. People who loved each other with all their hearts, tearing the lives of their children apart out of spite? Doesn't really give you faith in humanity," Alan said.

Annette sighed. Sometimes, she almost felt relieved that Danny had died when he had, fighting the good fight. They'd been able to hide it from the girls, but their marriage hadn't always been perfect. Sure, they still loved each other, and they made up after every fight, but she couldn't help but think about what would've happened if Danny hadn't been able to control his temper, or if he did something he shouldn't have at work. She hated herself for it, but she couldn't deny those feelings.

"I have a meeting with director Calvert tomorrow, something came up about one of our clients. Do you want me to ask him for advice? I assume this isn't the first time they've dealt with a situation like this," she asked him.

"Okay, yeah… Just, don't mention my name? We both know how leaky government organizations can get in this city."

"Sure, I'll keep it anonymous. And Alan? See if you can talk some sense into that daughter of yours?" she replied.

She left his office, and went back to her own. She had a corner office, high up in the tower that held their firm. Through the floor-to-roof windows, she could see the window of their apartment, three towers over. The light was on, meaning Taylor and Vicky had finally made their way past the worrywarts in security. Henry, on the outside an intimidating and bulky bald black man, had probably gotten all worked up about someone hurting Vicky and insisted on giving her a lollipop, just like he'd done ever since the girl had come to live there. In his eyes, Vicky was still the eight-year-old that got into scraps whenever anyone didn't play fair on the see-saw.

Today, things had gotten a lot more serious.

She looked over the papers of her case. Kayden Anders-Russel, ex-wife of the CEO of medhall, had approached her regarding her husband. According to Kayden, she'd left him after finding out the man was actually Kaiser, and now the man wanted his daughter back.

Kaiser was, everything considered, the least bad of the crime lords of Brockton Bay. He had succeeded Allfather in leadership of the Empire Eighty-Eight, a white supremacist organisation that had, once upon a time, been a gang. Right now, things weren't so clear anymore. These days, instead of looting, murdering, whoring and drugging, the Empire served as private security for those corporations that wanted more protection than the Protectorate could supply. At least as long as the CEO's of those corporations were white.

It was not a well-kept secret that the Empire was the only reason the towers were safe. The under-the-table payments were basically a protection racket, but it worked, which was more than you could say about the other gangs in the city.

The problem was, Annette didn't trust her client. Or at least, she thought there was something the woman wasn't telling her. There so often was when it came to parahuman law, and even Annette, the firm's foremost expert in the subject, couldn't properly prepare her cases when it came to those kind of secrets.

So what was it? was Kayden being mastered by someone? Was she a parahuman herself? A rival of Kaiser's? Had she known about his identity beforehand?

Tomorrow, she would talk to the asshole in charge. Thomas Calvert, the ever slimy bureaucrat in charge of the PRT and the Protectorate. Piggot had been incompetent, and she'd reigned over a city that went down the shitter at record speeds, but at least the woman had been able to tell the truth every now and then.

She sighed, thinking back to her daughters. There was something Vicky wasn't telling her, she knew. Annette was good at spotting lies and deception, she needed to be in order to her job. Figuring out when her children were deceiving her? Child's play.

***

Taylor was in her room, reading, and her binoculars told her mom was sitting in her office, reading some sort of document.

Good, Vicky thought, that meant she finally had the opportunity to figure out her new powers.

She looked in the mirror, noticing the bruises on her face, or rather the lack of bruises. Regeneration, low-level, not something useful in a fight, but absolutely amazing when recovering from one.

Then, she jumped, only not. She forced herself upwards with her mind, and her body obeyed.

So that confirmed it, she could fly.

Fuck yes she could fly!

Vicky went up and down, left and right, amazed at the responsiveness and speed of her movement.

Then, she heard the door of Taylor's room open.

Quickly, she dropped down to the ground, and tried to act nonchalantly.

"Everything okay in here?" Taylor asked, peeking over the in-house balcony their apartment had.

"Yeah everything's okay! Just happy you're safe!" Vicky yelled back.

"Okay, don't overdo it, and try to keep it down? I'm reading," Taylor replied.

"Fiiiine, go be boring!" Vicky said.

The moment Taylor turned her back, Vicky started flying again. Then, she took a look at the big corner bench in front of the TV. If she could fly, and regenerate, would she be able to?

Seconds later, she figured out that trying to carry a massive couch by lifting one corner was very good way to accidentally drop it.

Again, she heard the door to Taylor's room open, and the pit-pat-pit-pat of her footfalls as her sister walked towards the balcony overlooking the living room again.

Vicky panicked, and tried to push the couch back into position again. Except he underestimated her own strength, and the couch slid back way too far with a small push, making a horrible noise as it scratched against the floor.

Vicky looked up, and saw Taylor, mouth open, staring at the scene.

"Don't tell mom?" Vicky asked.


	3. Chapter 3

**Glory and Vengeance – Part 3**

"I don't know, seems to me it's more ridiculous to think none of them are corrupt," Fiona replied between sips from her glass of coke.

"So what, you think Alexandria is secretly a Nazi?" Taylor asked, not entirely as unbelieving as Vicky expected.

"Well, not Alexandria, but, the Protectorate will take literally anyone right? There's gotta be some villains in there," Fiona said.

"Really? You think they just up and recruit supervillains?" Joanne said.

"What, you've already forgotten what happened to that girl that entered town last year?" Fiona replied.

Vicky thought back to the event. A teenage supervillain by the name of Hellhound had rampaged through the boardwalk with a horde of angry monster dogs. The boardwalk's enforcers, a private security group known more for beating up the poor than for providing security had then shown their true colours. As the angry dogs chomped down on them, they suddenly showed increase resilience, as well as enhanced strength and an electrical touch. The PRT had claimed they worked for a guy called Galvanate, a disgraced supervillain that had barely escaped from a birdcage transport before, and had apparently chosen a new career in private security, over in the biggest shithole of the eastern seaboard.

The Protectorate had actually acted quickly for once, and within half an hour, the supervillain, a girl called Rachel Lindt, had been arrested, and both her superpowered dogs and a large amount of Galvanate's enforcers had been subdued, mostly because they had been fighting each other at the same time.

All in all, it hadn't been all that interesting if it hadn't been for a certain lawyer's action. Annette's firm had taken up the teenager's case, and Vicky's mother had argued that young Rachel was largely innocent. Images from a fighting ring run by one of Galvanate's newest powered flunky, a guy called Hookwolf, combined with an argument regarding known mental instabilities and failure on the part of child services had gotten the girl a spot on the wards. From what she'd heard, young Hellhound was now working around the Ellisburg containment area, patrolling the forests to keep out curious scientists and to keep in the surviving goblins, those that hadn't been cleared for release anyway. It was the kind of thing that would be a boring hell for just about anyone, but from the letters and pictures that had been sent to her mother, Vicky knew that Rachel liked the peace and quiet. Sure, her mother was very busy with work, often working until very late in the evening, but it was worth it, and the work helped Annette deal with Dad's death.

"Earth to Vicky, this is Houston calling, Earth to Vicky," Taylor taunted, and Vicky brought herself back to reality.

"Oh, sorry, got lost in thought," Vicky said.

"Yeah, we got that from the way your tea is cold now. Seriously Vick, what were you thinking about," Fiona asked.

"Just wondering how Rachel's doing. Mom worked on her case, and she sends a letter every week," Vicky replied.

"Yeah, the puppy pictures are cute," Taylor chimed in.

"Oh yeah, your mom does all that kind of stuff. I thought her firm was really expensive though, how did she pay for it?" Joanne asked.

"They do lots of charity work, Pro Bono, that sort of thing. It's not really charity though, because those kind of cases and results are the reason they're so expensive," Taylor explained. Of the two of them, her little sister had always been the one that was most interested in their mother's work, and even at the age of fourteen, she already knew exactly what she wanted to do: the same thing her mother did. Or become an English professor, that was the other option that Taylor had been interested in. The girl sure loved books.

Which reminded Vicky of the fact that she had absolutely no idea what to do with herself. She knew she was smart enough to go into any career she wanted, but she didn't know what she wanted. The fact that she had powers now only made things more complicated. Sure, she could join the wards or something, but that meant they'd have to move to another city. Going solo then? She'd prepared a shitty costume, and she wanted to do something, but it wasn't really a plan that would pay the bills long-term, and she didn't know anyone to start a proper team with.

"How does that even work?" Joanne kept asking.

"It's simple. Capes looking for a lawyer will look for the best. They'll look at the firm, see that they handled difficult cases like Hellhound's or Hijack's, and they'll decide that it's worth the money to keep the firm on retainer. It works because parahuman law is rather specialized, and there aren't all that many cases. There's just three or four firms in the nation that are really, really good at it. Also, most of the capes that need lawyers are generally rich supervillains, so they can pay for rates that mean mom can do Pro Bono stuff," Taylor explained.

"So, had your mom, like, worked with actual supervillains?" Joanne continued.

"Yeah, quite a few. Some famous ones that went to the birdcage anyway, but also people like String Theory, or Hijack"

"Wait, that woman that's in charge of NASA is a supervillain?" Fiona asked, not believing it for a second.

"First of all, she's not in charge. Second of all, that's public knowledge. Mom made this big argument around the cold war and Nazi scientists, and somehow that worked out. Long story short, we went to Hawaii for a week," Taylor said.

"I love Hawaii," Vicky replied, dreaming away at the thought of the long, sunny beaches and the hunky surfer dudes.

"You spend the entire week lying on a beach with your eyes closed! You didn't even see the volcanos!" Taylor yelled.

"Which is just the way I like it," Vicky replied. Joanne and Fiona just groaned.

"I'm dry, you guys want anything else?" Joanne suddenly said, pointing at her now empty cup.

"Tea for me!" Vicky and Taylor responded in chorus.

"Nah, I'm good," Fiona said.

Having taken the orders, Joanne went for the counter on the other side of the small coffeeshop. Just when she'd started ordering, the door opened, and Vicky saw a few burly, muscled men walking in, crackling with energy. They were, quite literally, crackling with it.

Vicky looked around, seeing whether she could spot any more of them, and quickly moved her chair a little so she would stay between the men and her little sister.

Luckily, they went straight for the counter. Problem was, that was where Joanne was ordering their drinks.

As they approached the counter, one of them shoved at Joanne, throwing her to the other side, with a slight spark frizzing up her neatly combed long red hair. She stood there and looked at them, still in shock at their sudden approach.

The leader of the man was at the counter, speaking to the barista behind the bar.

"Mister G wants his money, and you're late on payment," The man said.

The girl behind the counter was obviously panicking, not having been told how to handle this situation. So, she did what any retail worker would do.

"Just… let me call my manager, I'm sure he can resolve this issue," she said.

"Our money, now! Girl!" the thug said, grabbing her by the collar of her uniform, a nice green and blue combination that actually managed to make the wearer look good.

In the meantime though, one of the thugs at the back of the group turned his attention towards Joanne, who was standing back and trying to keep out of the way. He walked towards her, looking at her like the creep he was.

"You're awfully pretty aren't you?" he asked her, obviously not expecting her to answer the way she did.

"Yes, I am," Joanne replied, holding up her right hand, and flashing the man the intricately detailed bracelet she was wearing.

The first time Vicky had seen it, she'd thought it was made out of ivory, and she'd gotten angry. That had changed when Joanne had explained that it was made out of bone, not elephant tusks. Human bone, to be specific, and the armband was too tight to take it off without destroying it. Only one person could have made it, the boss of her 'boyfriend'. To anyone familiar with the Brockton Bay underworld, the armband was a very clear message: "Hands off, this is mine."

Yes, Joanne was awfully pretty, and someone had already noticed. Anyone that messed with her, that messed with the property of the Marquis, had a tendency to disappear.

The thug however, was quite obviously inexperienced or stupid, and took the opportunity to grab Joanne's arm, pulling her closer to him. "How about you come with me and we have some fun?" the man asked her.

"How about you shut the fuck up?" Joanne replied.

At that moment, one of the other thugs turned around, and saw what his buddy had been doing. More importantly, he spotted bracelet.

If the situation wasn't so dire, Vicky would have laughed at the way the upper half of the man's face (the lower half was covered by a bandana or shawl or something) suddenly went completely white.

Almost immediately, he grabbed his two buddies at the counter, and pulled them away.

"Let's get out of here," he said.

"Yeah, you better run," Joanne replied as the thugs slowly started leaving.

At that, the man that had been harassing her got even angrier, and tried punching her. One of his buddies tried to stop him, holding him back, but he still hit her in the face with a glancing blow.

Vicky stood up, and ran for Joanne, trying to keep track of the direction the thugs were running in the back of her mind.

"Joanne? Are you alright?" Vicky asked.

Joanne, lying on the floor, stood up, feeling at her face. A small trickle of blood was coming from her nose, and her upper lip looked a bit red, but it seemed like she was okay.

"Yeah, it's just a scratch…" she replied. "Henry will be angry though, he'll notice."

"At you?" Vicky asked.

"No… but, I don't want him to… Argh… I feel so guilty, I didn't expect him to really go that far. They usually back off and apologize," Joanne replied.

"Not your fault Joanne, you can't cure stupid," Fiona replied.

"Just… I'm… I'm gonna have to call him," Joanne replied.

"You want us to be here?" Vicky asked.

"No, it's better if I do it on my own. Don't want to get you gals involved in this," Joanne replied.

"If you say so," Fiona replied.

"Good luck," Vicky told her friend as the three of them left the café, giving Joanne the room she needed. The girl had made a deal with the devil for protection, and the protection provided was very, very good. The problem was that it was a tad too good for a nice girl like Joanne.

"Vicky, what just happened? I think there's something I'm not getting," Taylor asked.

"I'll tell you tonight? Okay? There's something I should do first. Can you go see if mom will be home in time for dinner?" she asked.

Taylor nodded, having a vague idea of what Vicky was talking about. Fiona didn't, but didn't get in the way of Vicky's plans anyway.

"You're heading to the towers then right? I'm heading that way, I'll walk with you for a bit," she told Taylor. "We can share embarrassing stories about your sister," she joked.

"Okay," Taylor replied. "You take care Vicky, don't do anything too stupid,"

"Heh, when have I ever done anything stupid?" Vicky retorted.

"I recall you waking up in the nurse's office just about a day ago, so, never?" Fiona said sarcastically.

"Frak off!" Vicky shouted back as she split off from the other girls, leaving them to go for the bus.

Vicky went into an alley, and started digging through her bag. It was at the bottom, below all of her books.

***

"Look man, Nico didn't know, it was his first job," Albert said, pleading.

"Doesn't matter. He fucked up, he fucked up hard," the man they only knew as smilin' George said.

"Look dude, how was I supposed to know?" Nico said, trying to defend himself.

"How the fuck did you not know?" John yelled at him.

"We had a simple fucking job Nico, we get in, we crush a display or two, we get the money, we leave. No civvies getting hurt, and none of this shit happening to us!" George said, slowly getting angry, angry and scared.

"Bitch was asking for it," Nico defended himself.

George punched him in the face, his enhanced strength just barely hurting the man. Galvanate's ability was much better at defence than it was at offense. "The redhead belongs to the Marquis, you don't fuck with his stuff!" he yelled.

"So what, we just let him do what we want? We're supposed to be rivals, enemies!" Nico said

"Economically, sure, but you made it personal. You never make it personal with the Marquis," smilin' George said.

"Enough of this, let's just get rid of him and be done with it," John yelled.

"Look, I'm sure the boss can make a deal or something, let's not do anything hasty," Albert said. He had been the one to bring Nico in, he liked the guy, he didn't want the guy dead.

"Hasty? We better be hasty. I say we kill him now and offer his head to that redhead, maybe the Marquis will decide to let the rest of us live," John said.

"Guys, what the hell, we're supposed to be a team!" Nico said again.

"And a teammates make sure they don't get their buddies killed. I agree, we get rid of him," Blake said, finally speaking up.

"Albert, come on man, you gotta help me here," Nico pleaded again.

"Don't know Nico, my mom depends on me, she'll have no-one if I get offed," he replied

"Dude… we went to school together, seriously man," Nico said.

"Yeah, totally heartless, like he's the minion of a supervillain or something like that," someone else said.

Albert looked at the source of the voice. A young woman was standing no, floating, a dozen yards away from them. She wore a plastic white mask, the type you bought in a store for parties, and had blonde hair in a tight knot behind her head. Her body was covered in a flowing white robe of the type they wore at unrealistic college toga parties, and she wasn't wearing any shoes. A white rope was tied around her waist as a belt, and the loose tunic ended just past her knees.

"The fuck are you?" Smilin' George asked.

"To be honest, I haven't decided yet, didn't think I'd find any trouble without looking for it," the girl replied. "Anyway, I happened to overhear your conversation there, and I have to ask, have you thought about protective custody?"

"And surrender to the pigs? Are you crazy, little girl? "John asked, half mocking.

"Ohh, you won't have to surrender if you don't want to. I can take care of that part," the girl said, smiling beneath her mask.

"You better shut up before I put you in your place. These are my men you're threatening," George said.

"Wait, I'm the one threatening them? I though you guys wanted to kill him?" the girl said, pointing at Nico.

"None of your business little slu-" George said, his sentence interrupted by a punch in the face from the flying girl.

She was strong, strong and fast. Before the rest of them could react, the girl had added another punch to the face, kneed George in the stomach, kicked him in the balls with her heel, and smasher her own forehead into George's jaw. It was a work of beauty, one they would have to put down. G would be happy if they brought in a girl like that he could recruit, maybe happy enough to help protect Nico.

Smilin' George, enhanced by Galvanate's power, stumbled back for a second before looking up at the girl again, smiling with a mouth half-filled with teeth. The girl had hit him hard, but not hard enough.

"Guys, git er," George said through his smashed teeth, rushing forwards to take hold of the vigilante. Regardless of their previous conversation, everyone, including Nico, rushed forwards with him, ready to take down the girl.

The girl reacted by going upwards, making a strange flying backflip over George, and then backing off just a bit.

"Guess you guys are sturdier than I expected if you can still move like that," the girl said. "Guess I'll have to get serious."

The girl moved her arms to her sides, and in both of them, light started shimmering. In her left hand, she created a shield out of the hard-light forcefield. In the right, a wickedly sharp scythe-ish weapon that reminded him of nothing more than the deadly cousin of a lightsaber.

"Let's try these babies out," the girl said, with a grin even wider than smilin' George's.


	4. Chapter 4

**Glory and Vengeance - Part 4**  
Taylor made her way past the security downstairs, quickly flashing the ID her mother had provided to her and her sister. A compromise with her bosses after Danny had died, the allowed Taylor and Vicky some freedom of movement in the large office tower, and more specifically the law firm where her mother worked.

Mom had wanted to stop working as much, especially in the evenings, to fill the gap that Danny had left behind. Her boss had disagreed, and the access cards had been a compromise. It meant that, when Annette couldn't come home, they could come here instead.

Taylor entered the elevator, and was joined by some people in professional clothes, suits and pantsuits, that sort of thing. The towers were one of the few areas in the city that still did quite well. The racist, conspiratorial part of society claimed that it was because it was in the Empire's territory, everyone else knew that it was because it was the only place where there were still enough jobs, at least for the highly educated.

It made sense, in its own twisted way. For the supervillains that infested the city, there was very little to gain here. It was mostly service industry, with an added layer of medical development, but most of the actual production happened in completely different areas, where there wasn't a powered robbery every three days. So this little enclave of money and wealth survived, while all the people that had lost their jobs when industry and shipping fled the city became henchmen and gang members.

Every now and then, mom had to attend some sort of high-society function. Sometimes, she brought Taylor and Vicky along. Vicky always loved it, dressing up to the nines, relishing the glamour of it all, talking to the children of other important people. Taylor took a different approach, she listened. She roamed the party, looking for interesting conversations, and tried to learn.

It was all quite fascinating, fascinating and corrupt. The real difference between the towers and the rest of the city was that the corruption here was hidden, but the excuses were the same.

"They threatened my children", "He knows where I live", "Everyone else is doing it".

And here, much like in the docks or the old town, they were simply excuses.

Yes, it was true that the Marquis, Lung, the Kaiser, Galvanate and Coil, even the Merchants, were dangerous. And it was perfectly possible that some of them actually feared for their lives, or those of their families, when doing the shit they did. But that didn't explain why everything they did happened to make them rich as well. If they really didn't want to do what they did, they wouldn't have so much money, would they?

The elevator dinged again, and Taylor had reached her floor, she left the compartment, waved to the guy at the counter, Todd, she thought his name was, but she couldn't quite remember. He recognized her, and let her through, and Taylor entered the premises of Johnson & Browning's Brockton Bay department.

The firm was spread over two different floors of the tower, and was filled with paperwork, printers, meeting rooms offices and cubicle farms. What Taylor had always liked about it was the walls. There were very few loadbearing walls in the offices. Instead, everything was made out of a special glass, one that could turn opaque whenever they wanted it to, based upon the creation of a tinker somewhere on the west coast. It meant that the entire area looked rather open, while allowing individual rooms to become private at will.

As Taylor reached her mother's corner office, the frosted glass immediately told her she was in a meeting. She walked up to the desk outside of the office, and looked at the girl sitting behind it.

The girl had red hair, the type that looked like it had to have been dyed that way, and wore her hair in long dreads, which made for an interesting contrast with her neatly tailored suit.

As she looked at the girl, the girl looked back at her, with a questioning look on her face.

"Is this meeting going to take long? I need to talk to mom," Taylor said, motioning to her mother's office.

"Oh, you're Ms. Hebert's daughter? I'm afraid it might take a while, she's having an important meeting," the girl replied.

"So you're the new intern huh?" Taylor asked.

"Yep, name's Sierra, nice to meet you by the way, I'm guessing you're Taylor?" she replied

"Yeah, Vicky ran off somewhere, how'd you know?"

"Besides the fact that you girls are all she talks about? The difference between platinum blonde and near black hair is rather easy to remember. Anyway, you want something to drink while you wait? Bringing people coffee is basically all I'm allowed to do, so I might as well be usefull!" she said, smiling.

Taylor nodded, and walked with her. As it turned out, Sierra was a big fan of her mother's work, and wanted to go into parahuman law as well, this internship was just a temporary thing to get to know the right people and figure out what work in a law firm was like. Plus, she made great tea without getting interrupted by powered henchmen.

About halfway through the cup of tea, and five minutes into a conversation on law school, Taylorand Sierra were interrupted by a subtle change in the environment, the glass around Annette's office becoming translucent again.

The glass door opened, and her mother said some last words to her client, a rather attractive, well-built teenager with a strong jawline, wearing what was probably his best, but not actually very good. One of the Pro Bono cases then, which was interesting in and of itself.

Annette turned to her, and had one of those looks. "Hey kiddo, what did Vicky do this time?" she asked.

"Nothing, at least nothing that was her fault. We were drinking something at that little café on seventh, the one with the real tea, and some thugs came in. Vicky thought I was all traumatized and ordered me to come here, but I'm okay. Wanted to ask you what we're eating tonight though." Taylor replied, her eyes veering off into the direction of the young man that had just left, peeking at his rear end.

"I'm going to have to cancel for tonight Taylor, I have a meeting with Calvert and he's bound to try and play powergames and make me wait. Can you cook something for you and Vicky? We already had take-out yesterday, so you should get some actual food inside of you," Annette replied.

"Okay," Taylor said. "Also, you know you're contractually obliged to tell us when you're working for a total hottie right?"

Annette just groaned, while Sierra started laughing. "I think he's a little young for me Taylor," Annette said.

"Yeah, but, like, for me? Or Vicky?" Taylor replied.

"You know what Taylor, I'm going to give you a no on this one," Annette answered.

"If she's anything like me, that means you just egged her on," Sierra replied.

Annette turned to me, with a smile on her face. "Taylor, your father may be dead, but I have enough supervillains owing me a favour to be able to intimidate any boyfriends you bring home. You just remember that."

"Seems like I'll have to date one of those then huh?" Taylor replied, laughing. Of course she wasn't going to date a supervillain. Probably.

***

The toothless idiot was quickly dispatched with a shield-bash to the face, the hardlight force-projection half-exploding in his face, throwing him back to the ground.

Vicky still didn't quite understand how that part of her abilities worked. Besides the strength, the forcefield, the regeneration and the flight, she could channel her strength into these strange energy constructs. She form weapons or shields out of that energy, or she could focus it into an even stronger, unstable construct, that would explode into pure concussive force, throwing things away from it.

This time, with the added strength of her shield, Galvanate's brute didn't stand back up. The others however, approached her.

"You guys really are feeling cocky aren't you?" she asked, brandishing her battle-scythe in front of her.

For a normal weapon, it was completely ridiculous. But she'd quickly found that she was immune to her own weaponry, and this shape allowed her to work from a lot of different angles. Plus, it was sharp at every edge, even the ones that didn't look like it.

She'd have to be careful not to immediately dismember these guys, but she could probably get away with some shallow slices. After all, it wasn't like these were baseline humans. They were stronger, sturdier, and enhanced with an electrifying touch.

The first thug came at her, and she blocked his arms with the shield that helped cover her entire left flank. Then, while he was reeling from the strange effect of her constructs, she rushed forwards, slicing at his legs with her weapon.

Her scythe went right through the side of the man's leg, but there was no blood. Instead, the wound was cauterized by what seemed to be electrical energy, and an explosive effect originating at the wound threw him back.

The problem with "energy weapons", was that it didn't actually mean anything. A lightsaber, like the ones in starwars, was just heat, burning straight through something with plasma. Her powers however, worked differently. It was somehow explosive, without being anything like an explosion. It threw stuff around, but generally didn't create any shrapnel. The effect however, was simply that it was better weapons. Anything hit by her would be thrown back, without obeying Newton's laws, meaning she remained in the same place.

Another thug came at her, this time one with a chain he'd gotten from somewhere.

Tricky, but nothing she hadn't dealt with before.

He wound it up, aiming it to twist around her shield, but obviously hadn't expected Vicky to drop the shield, dematerializing it entirely, and just take a step backwards.

As the weapon was on the backswing, she rushed forwards. She also dropped the scythe, and formed a construct around her first, a thin layer of power, already enhanced by her strength. Brass knuckles instead of bladed weaponry.

It worked, and the hit threw the thug back, flying into the wall with a satisfying crunch.

The fourth and fifth thug, the guy that had hit Joanne, and the only guy that had defended him, charged Vicky from two sides, hoping to catch her off guard.

It was a good move, one she'd seen before from the bullies back in school. Back then, she'd usually dealt with it by rushing into one of them, and taking him down before the other could catch up. This time however, she had a whole new array of tools.

Instead of diving out of their way at the last second, or trying to block them, she pumped extra strength into her gauntlet, until it started glowing even more. Then, just as they closed in on her, she let it go, creating a massive explosion of concussive force, throwing back the two tugs, and breaking a few windows in the vicinity.

The grenades, much like her constructs, hit anything but her, leaving her completely untouched. The only thing she'd need to watch out for was the effect that had on the blast, because there was a clear area behind her where the blast hadn't been able to reach.

Within that clear area, two parahumans had appeared. Heroes, or at least people bearing the title. If you believed Fiona, half of them were probably communist nazi gangsters in disguise, but Fiona thought a time-travelling Scion was responsible for the Kennedy Assassination, so you couldn't take her too seriously.

She recognized the men as Chevalier and Armsmaster, experienced veterans of the industry. Armsmaster, wielding his trademark halberd and beard, was one of the most versatile tinkers around. And unlike most tinkers, he didn't need to decide up front what kind of weapons to bring along, he had access to all of them at the same time, his weapon having at least seven different forms and a whole array of functions. Chevalier, the guy with the cannonblade, had a very different reputation. Vicky still remembered the day Myrddin had brought him in, designed as a counter to Lung. Where Lung could grow in size and strength, Chevalier could keep up, pounding away with his cannonblade. The fact that it created a whole lot of collateral damage was expected from a guy that could fight Lung one-on-one.

The two of them made a dangerous pair, and the internet was absolutely filled with videos of them fighting villains together. They were, sadly, not always videos of them actually arresting anyone.

"They start making the supervillains younger and younger every year, don't they?" Chevalier said.

"Don't know, I'm rather bad with ages. How old do you think this one is? Twelve?" Armsmaster replied.

"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm one, not a villain, and two, old enough to drive," yelled at them.

Chevalier turned his head to Armsmaster, who shook his head. "I don't believe you," beardsley said.

"Then you're a fucking idiot. I'm a hero, not a villain," she replied.

Chevalier looked at Armsmaster again. Weird, wasn't he supposed to be the one in charge?

"True on both counts this time," Armsmaster said.

"Meaning?" Chevalier asked.

"Meaning I'm an idiot, and she's not old enough to drive," Armsmaster clarified.

"Yes I am," Vicky yelled back.

"Learning permits don't count, and I'm pretty sure you don't have one yet," Armsmaster retorted.

"So somewhere around fifteen and a half, and you're already punching people through walls," Chevalier said, pointing to a place where just such a thing had happened.

Well, not really, most of it was just cracks in the brickwork, so he was really making more of it than it actually was, but…

"Look kid, I'm sure you mean well, but don't you think you've overdone it a bit?" Chevalier continued.

Vicky looked around her for a second, noticing the groaning men that were trying desperately not to move their broken bones, as well as the shards of glass and the slight inwards bulge in the buildings on both sides of the alleyway. All things said, it was nothing that couldn't be easily fixed.

"They were asking for it, seriously, they were going to betray their own buddy, the idiots," she said.

"Doesn't really matter what they did, because they're not the ones that just caused some sort of massive explosion in the middle of the city," Armsmaster said.

"I'm sure it may have seemed reasonable in the moment, but what would you have done if those walls had given in?" Chevalier continued.

"Would you have been able to rescue everyone inside? Stop the crumbling building from falling on any pedestrians?" Armsmaster went on. They'd quite obviously been prepared to give this kind of spiel.

"I wasn't going to destroy the buildings, seriously, I'm not stupid," Vicky said.

"You say that, but the way you looked after throwing that force-nade told me you didn't actually expect an explosion that big. What if it had been bigger? If you miscalculated?" Chevalier said.

"I didn't, that's what matters," Vicky replied.

"Look, you're obviously a good kid, you just don't know how to handle your powers yet. Just come with us to the rig and we can talk about your future," Chevalier said.

"Now hold on, my other always told me not to go anywhere with strangers," Vicky replied.

"Well, I'm a Striker, and Armsmaster is a Tinker, so I don't think that will be a problem," Chevalier joked.

"Whatever… it's not like you guys have a Wards team anyway, so it's useless anyway," Vicky replied.

"Well, not in Brockton Bay, which is one of the things we want to talk to you about," Armsmaster chimed in.

"Shithole as it may be, this city is my home. I'm not moving anywhere," Vicky said.

Chevalier took a few steps forward, a friendly smile on his face.

"I can understand that, but you have to understand, it's not safe for you here," he said.

"I can take care of myself," Vicky replied, motioning to the battlefield around her.

"I'm sure you think you can, but please, you have to understand, Marquis has something about children, child capes specifically. Brockton Bay doesn't have a Wards team because we cannot guarantee their safety against him, let alone the safety of an independent," he said, coming even closer.

He had a nice, easy smile visible beneath his helmet, the type that reminded Vicky of her father. Not Danny, but someone else that she only dimly remembered. Mark, something told her. This wasn't Mark though; Mark had died a decade ago.

"If he's so dangerous, why don't you stop him? Actually solve the cities problems for once?" she asked.

"Because whether we like it or not, he's dangerous, really dangerous," Armsmaster said.

"Back around the turn of the century, someone tried. A team called the Brockton Bay Brigade. We don't know exactly what happened, but we do know they all died, removed from the earth with not even their families left alive," Chevalier said, the words heavy.

"That's not everything," Armsmaster continued. "Three years later, the Slaughterhouse nine paid another visit to Brockton Bay."

"Slaughterhouse? This supposed to mean anything to me?" Vicky asked.

"I guess you're a little too young to really remember them. A group of roaming psychopaths and murderers, led by a guy calling himself Jack Slash. Their most notable member was the Siberian, the woman that killed Hero," Chevalier answered. He looked sad, talking about Hero, one of the original members of the triumvirate, quadrumvirate, whatever it had been called. Hadn't he been in the first Wards team or something like that? Had he known Hero personally?

"Utterly invincible and immovable, the Siberian had torn through Alexandria like it was nothing, and until she came to Brockton Bay, it was thought that nothing would be able to stop her, not even an endbringer. Marquis put an end to those rumours, and destroyed the entire group in a single night." Armsmaster explained.

"In other words, no, we can't fight Marquis, and the Triumvirate is too afraid of him to fight," Chevalier said.

"The triumvirate, afraid?"Vicky asked.

"That's what is seems like anyway," Armsmaster said. "They won't touch this city with a ten-mile pole."

"Again, better to just go somewhere else if you can, somewhere safe. The PRT can help your parents financially, help you move," Chevalier said.

"Can't help but notice you two are still here," Vicky replied.

"We're adults, soldiers, so to speak. We know the risk, and we decided that it was worth it. You, however, are too young for alcohol, let alone lethal danger," Armsmaster said.

"They let eighteen year olds join the army," Vicky replied.

"And that's completely retarded, and besides the point. Trust me girl, being in the army is far safer than being a vigilante in Brockton Bay," Armsmaster retorted.

"I'm still not coming with you, I can't just leave this city behind," Vicky said. "Look at what I just managed to do on my first time out! Five villains taken down."

"And fifty more where those came from," Armsmaster replied.

Chevalier, in the meantime, was close enough to grab her hand.

"Hey!" Vicky yelled.

"You're under arrest for property damage, assault with a parahuman ability, and reckless endangerment of a minor," he said.

"The fuck!" Vicky yelled out again, trying to pull her hand away, but Chevalier was heavier than she had expected.

"Look, it's for your own good, and I'm not sitting by to watch you get killed or inducted into the fucking Merchants in a week. Just come with us and we'll leave this all behind us," Chevalier said.

Vicky didn't reply, she just moved, using her flight to bring her leg up and kick Chevalier with the equivalent of brass toe knuckles.

It hit, but the armour was too strong to punch through. Chevalier, in the meantime, stepped forwards with his other hand as well, shoving Vicky against the wall.

"Just calm down okay, you're not in any real trouble yet and we both want to keep it that way. I know how it feels, to think you're failing someone, that you owe it to them to help. But you're just a kid, and it can wait, okay? It's not a betrayal if you leave this for later," Chevalier said, strangely emotional.

"Get the fuck off me!" Vicky yelled, sending herself, and Chevalier with her, upwards.

At first, she managed to fly at a nice rate, but almost immediately, Chevalier started getting heavier, much heavier.

"Just calm down okay, there's no need to get violent," he said.

Instead of doing as he said, Vicky started charging up another grenade.

Spotting the build-up of energy, Chevalier released her, and dropped to the ground. Vicky quickly accelerated further, leaving the two heroes far behind her.

Once she was in the sky above the city, she suddenly realized the grenade was still building up in her hands. Quickly, she threw it upwards into the sky, where it exploded into a massive flare, signalling the arrival of a new heroine to Brockton Bay.


	5. Re-do in an AU

**Glory and Victory(a)**

Gloria looked through the floor-to-ceiling window, observing the world outside like an evil overlord would observe their secret base.

Brockton Bay, shining jewel of the east coast. Trade hub, center for neo-colonization, and her hometown.

Sure, it had its bad parts. The northern half of the city had been torn away, the ruins that remained only beginning to be rebuild. The boat graveyard was there too, but that had quickly been transformed into what must have been the strangest harbor ever to exist. On the other hand, that had only happened because a Neo-Nazi gang had figured out that if they build new docks on their own, they would both control the city, and show a middle finger to Lung.

The docks, capable of holding two super freighters and several smaller ships, were mostly empty right now. A few fishing boats were visible on the horizon, and Gloria could almost see the tiny little dockworkers in the distance, building new warehouses with the limited tools they had on hand. Danny would have loved the revival of the dockworker's union, although he would have hated the empire presence.

Still, Kaiser was smart enough to know that killing half the dockworkers for not being white would wreak havoc on the city's economy, so it could at least be tolerated. And with the amount of wealth flowing through, the protection payments probably weren't a problem, besides the fact that they were protection payments of course.

On the other side of the city, in the east, stood the hub. And while the docks were marked by periods of massive activity whenever a new freighter came by, the hub's activity was constant, through rain or snow, or gloom of night.

In the middle, between the new docks and the hub, stood a long, wide thoroughfare, a street about as wide as you'd expect a city block to be. Paved with something akin to tinkertech cobblestone, it was here that trade was done, with hawkers peddling wares, shoppers shopping for goods, and petty criminals trying to make a buck out of it all. In honor of the time before, it was called the Lord's street, after the old Lord Street Market. Were she to smash the window and jump, she'd land in what she thought was a curry stand, selling Indian cuisine with who knew what kind of spices in it, certainly not the original blend.

"Sis! Come on we need to hurry, I don't want to be late on my first day!" her little sister yelled from the in-house balcony that allowed people to look out over the living room from the second floor.

Victoria turned around and looked at the girl.

She had tamed her long black curls with a midnight blue hairband, of a type she recognized from the uniform store. She was wearing a silver-white shirt, with a skirt in the same blue color as her hairband beneath it, with the silver-white of her socks just beneath it, showing the tiniest bit of skin. The ensemble was finished with a quickly finished tie with the Arcadia logo, something with which Annette had obviously helped her with.

"New look? Smile included?" she asked rhetorically. "I like it!"

"Thanks," Taylor replied. "I thought I'd get a new look for a new start."

For the past year or so, Vicky knew, her little sister had been bullied at school. People throwing spitballs at her, juicing her bag, stealing her homework and ripping pages out of her books. She'd wanted to help, but Vicky had already begun at Arcadia, being one year ahead of little Taytay. Going by how happy she was now, most of her bullies must not have been able to get into Arcadia, meaning they wouldn't be bothering her again.

"Well, let's get going then you lazy first-years!" Vicky said as she went for the door of the apartment.

"You were the one dawdling!" Taylor replied, running down the stairs to catch up to her.

The two of them made their way outside, walking down the walkway towards the elevators.

The apartment building was one of the first ones build after everything had changed. Similar to ancient Roman buildings, but much higher and with more security features, the building was build around a central plaza, which was covered with glass and doubled as a garden and a hydroponics area. Apparently the designs had been provided by some sort of architecture Tinker, and the specific way in which it was set-up allowed everyone to have a little hanging hydroponics garden. The Heberts used theirs to grow strawberries year round, which they sometimes traded with the neighbors for some variation.

"So, what's Arcadia like?" Taylor asked.

"Let's see… It's exactly the same as the last couple hundred times you asked me," Vicky replied.

"Yeah, but, what's it really like? During the tour, they pretended everything was just so perfect. What's the dirt? What are the secrets?" Taylor asked.

"Ahh, so you want to know what it's really like, my young padawan," Vicky said. "Well, for one thing, it's absolutely riddled with gang members."

"Really?" Taylor asked, not believing her.

"Only sort of. I mean, sure, technically they only take the smartest students, while everyone else starts working or doing an apprenticeship at fifteen. You know, dwindling resources and everything. Realistically however, people with influence tend to find a way to get their kids in," she explained.

"You mean mom…" Taylor asked.

"I don't think so. I mean, come on, you're obviously a massive bookworm."

"But my grades…" Taylor said, referring to her lack of academic ability in her previous year. The ones that had fallen like a rock due to the whole bullying thing.

"They gave you the test right? Trust me, like 80% of it is how you do on that test, because they can't really trust school records these days."

"If you say so," Taytay said.

The two of them made their way into the elevator, where they were soon joined by a rather nerdy looking boy in the male version of the Arcadia uniform, as well as a young man that wore the suit and tie like he usually wore far more formal clothing.

"Hey Taylor, you're going to Arcadia too?" the nerdy kid said, all cheery and happy. Taylor ignored him, but wasn't happy about the boy talking to her.

"Did you know there's like four hours of computer class each week? I even heard they have a connection to some school in Great New York!" the kid continued.

"Hi Greg," Taylor finally said.

They were rescued by the elevator stopping at ground floor, and Vicky grabbed her little sister by the arm, pulling her forwards.

"Is he bothering you?" she asked.

"No, it's just Greg…" Taylor replied, brushing off her sister's concerns.

The two girls, followed closely by the two young men, Greg now motor-mouthing at the other boy, made their way out of the building past the security guard, which nodded at them as they left.

Lord Street was, as always, completely filled with people. The collapse had destroyed the global economy, and multinationals had fallen in the chaos. General destruction, bandits and calamity triggers meant that trade and travel become a lot more difficult, and as a result, mass-produced goods had become more scarce. Clothes weren't mass-produced in third-world countries anymore, but tailored by people and then sold on the massive market. Butchers, Bakers and fruit merchants had replaced the massive grocery stores, and consumer electronics were hoarded like ancient artifacts until a ship containing them arrived.

More impressive however, were the creatures from earth Tav. Massive exotic wonders of evolution, they were the main source of export in Brockton Bay.

Vicky spotted a caravan, looking for a warehouse to place their goods and set up store, walking through the streets. Massive Mega-Aurochs, two-story tall beasts of burden, carrying cages with exotic pets, furs and hides, Ivory and other products from beyond the portal.

Someone waved at her from the top of the second beast in line. A boy she remembered from Middle School, Dennis had been crude but hilarious. A year in the colonies however, had turned him from a cute pasty idiot into a tanned hunk, the hard work and travelling making his body very interesting to look at.

Dennis jumped down from his position on the beast, and Vicky walked in his direction to talk to him, standing right next to the massive Auroch.

"Long time no see," the boy greeted her. "You're looking good!"

"Same," Vicky replied as she looked at the boy, guy, whatever. "How's life?"

"Pretty good," Dennis replied. "I mean, it's not perfect, but I'm getting by. Making enough money to help support my mom."

"Oh, right…" Vicky replied. She remembered Dennis's father being rather sick the last time they'd spoken. If Dennis was supporting his mother, then things must not have ended well.

"Anyway, who's this lovely lady?" Dennis asked as Taylor joined them.

" My lil' sis, Taylor," Vicky replied.

"Hi," Taylor greeted, halfway stuck between still being shy and getting her new start going.

"Hey Dynamite, eyes on the road!" someone yelled from the frond of the group. Vicky looked, and saw a rather sharp-featured woman with long black hair in a bun, wearing what looked like an unholy hybrid of riot gear and cowboy stuff, plating and leather combining for a rather strange look. The most striking however, was the armband she carried around her right arm, a golden dot surrounded by a circle, on a field of white. This woman had fought Scion in the Gold Morning, that much was clear. In other words, she was a parahuman.

"Gotta scram, see you when I'm done?" he asked.

"Sure," Vicky replied, taking a long look at the boy's glutes while he walked back to his Auroch.

"Fugly Bob's at four?" Dennis asked as he mounted the beast, his heels digging in to make the massive creature move forwards.

"Sure, but bring a friend!" Vicky yelled back.

"Will do!" Dennis yelled back, barely audible in the noise of the street.

"What just happened?" Taylor asked, as the two of them started walking in the direction of Arcadia High again.

"I just got you a date," Vicky replied.

"That was a date? Weren't you still in love with Dean?" Taylor asked.

"You have a lot to learn little T. See, the thing is, boyfriends are like purses, you can't have the same one for more than a year."

"That's shallow," Taylor replied.

"So's breaking up because I don't like the dress he bought me," Vicky said.

"I'm sure there was more to it than that," Taylor said.

There was, but she wasn't going to trouble her sister with the details.

Vicky looked around as they made their way through the busy street. It was still morning, but everyone was already up and about, selling their wares, or trying to find what they needed. Every here and there, she saw other children wearing the same uniform, those fortunate enough to be able to afford an education in these trying times.

Eventually, her eyes spotted someone climbing on top of an Auroch that had been parked somewhere, cutting at the cords that kept the owner's goods attached to the beast. Worse, the girl doing it seemed to be wearing some sort of mask.

Evidently, she wasn't the only one to see it. The beast's owner yelled out, and the Auroch started roaring and moving around. When the owner, a rather obese Merchant, grabbed his gun however, the girl, half-mounted on a panicking Auroch suddenly started breathing fire at him.

"Taylor, we should get out of here. Meet you at school okay?" Vicky said, while she ran through the crowd, looking for a place to become Gloria.

"Vicky? Where are you going?" Taylor yelled, but Vicky kept running. One of these days, she would tell her sister about her powers, but it was her secret for now.

Rounding a corner, just barely out of sight of the rest of the people in the street, half of them panicking because of the cape, Vicky materialized her gear.

Almost immediately, a hardlight helmet covered her head, joined by what looked somewhat like a dress made out of plate-mail, with a short skirt of course. It wasn't like she needed it for Protection. The hardlight was rather brittle, and she had her forcefield for that. No, instead, the hardlight armor would serve as a shield to protect her family, and as a weapon, but in the more literal sense.

She flew upwards before returning to the street, trying to make it less obvious where she came from.

Down below her, in the street, she saw the cape she'd spotted earlier, now trying to keep the area around her clear by spitting fire into the air as a warning shot. It wasn't entirely a good idea, since her flames seemed to be based upon some sort of flammable liquid, which was falling to the street and sitting there in burning puddles.

Not needing another clue, Gloria flew forwards, diving straight in front of the villainess, and landing in a perfect three-point landing. Or at least mostly perfect, there were just a few cracks in the stones beneath her.

The fire-spitter stopped, obviously impressed with her amazing superhero landing.

"Stop right there you criminal scum!" Vicky said.

"The fuck are you?" the girl replied.

"Glora," Vicky said, striking a suitably intimidating pose.

"Dude, it doesn't really count if you call yourself glorious, I mean, you're a virtual unknown," the girl continued.

"And you're under arrest," Vicky replied, walking forwards menacingly.

The girl, obviously panicking about the appearance of a superhero so soon after starting her dastardly behavior, started spitting fire at Vicky like she was Tupac or something. Only instead of amazing lyrics, it was actual fire, which was the entire point of the metaphor after all.

"Vicky just stood there as the fire easily broke through her armor, the sticky liquid burning on her skin. Or rather, her near skin-tight forcefield, which luckily also covered her school uniform.

Covered in burning goop that would hopefully protect her secret identity, Vicky stepped forwards, utterly invincible.

You know, unless the villain had a gun or something, then she would be completely fucked, the bullet breaking her forcefield after which the flames would roast her alive. Sure, she could've dodged, but it was important to show criminals how amazing you were.

"Nice try, my turn," Vicky said, flying forwards, straight into the villain girl, who flew back before landing painfully on the ground, getting rashes and bruises all over her body in the process.

"Fuck you! You have no idea what you're doing," the girl yelled.

"You think so Kendrick? I saw you try to steal from that merchant," Vicky replied as the flammable liquid around her started burning up. When she started being able to see again, she reformed her armor, protecting her again.

"It was mine in the first place," the villainess argued.

"Yeah, right," Vicky said, and as the girl spit another fireball, Vicky dodged to the side, making the fireball crash into a stall someone had set up. Dodging further fire, Vicky weaved between the different stalls and carts, until she outmaneuvered the woman doing the Eminem impression, being able to get behind her, and pulling one hand around her stomach while holding her head in place with the other, stopping the villain from hitting her with flaming snot.

They stood there for a few seconds, rather awkwardly, when, out of nowhere, the ground beneath them started moving, twisting and circling around their legs. Vicky tried to escape, struggling against whatever was doing it, before she noticed it was trying to bind, not hurt. Within seconds, the two of them were both stuck to the ground, material from the stones of Lord's street having wound its way up their legs.

"Lemme fucking go," the villainess said.

"This isn't me you idiot," Vicky replied, as she looked around, trying to find the source of the effect.

"Seriously? I told you I wanted to foam them!" a girl called out from the crowd with an unnaturally high voice. When Vicky looked, she saw that it was a girl in the Arcadia uniform, with the addition of a harness holding several pieces of tinkertech, and a head-covering helmet, the front of which was made out of opaque glass, while the back was made out of some strange tinkertech material. The get-up made for an effective disguise, seeing how the uniform meant she could be confused with just about every teenage girl going to Arcadia. The most important part of her outfit however, was the white with gold armband she was wearing. Given that the girl looked to be about Taylor's age, that meant she'd barely been older than ten when she was called in to fight.

"I'd like very much not to arrive late on the first day of the school year, and I don't think your father would want you to miss your first day either," her partner answered.

Taller than the girl with the helmet, the second speaker was also quite obviously a cape, but instead of wearing a costume, she just looked like she was somehow made out of metal, the bronze of her armor moving with flowing movements, rather than with the rigidity of the kind of thing Armsmaster wore. That was because this girl wasn't a Tinker wearing power armor. Instead, Vicky knew that this girl used some form of molecular control to make the metal flow around her like a second skin. The outfit was bronze, with a stylized T on the torso, and Vicky thought it must have been ridiculously hot and sweaty inside, especially during the summer. Then again, maybe the wearer had some sort of power that countered that.

"Snugglepuss woulda let me foam her," the smaller girl retorted.

"Cirrata, not Snugglepuss," the tall one said. "Maybe if you could bring forth some professionalism for once…" she ended her sentence with a sigh.

"Look Talos, we're already running late, I don't think this is the time for a discussion about which of us is more professional,"

"Look, I know you're in a hurry, but I kind of caught a criminal here," Vicky said, still stuck awkwardly hugging the villainess from behind.

"Fuck off, dude stole that shit from me and tried to shoot me when I took it back."

"Lemme guess, he stole it from you because the very notion of property itself is theft?" the smaller girl said.

"That doesn't sound like a very consistent philosophy," Vicky added in.

"Well, if everything is theft, nothing is, so it's kind of useful," the girl retorted.

"We're supposed to follow the protocols Gadget," Talos said.

"And I was supposed to be able to foam them, leading to a long and silly misunderstanding with miss Christmas tree there that would make sure I missed math class," Gadget replied.

"It's less shiny in the mirror," Vicky defended herself. "Wait, you mean the only reason you guys are keeping me locked up here is because you don't like math class?"

"Only reason? You say that like it's a small thing! Seriously, I checked the books, they barely even cover four-dimensional differential equations. I'd die of boredom!" Gadget said.

Talos, in the meantime, had taken refuge in repairing the surface of the street, cleaning up the places that had been half-molten, as well as the area that had been cracked by Vicky's landing.

"Anyway, I've got my sister telling me to as you for your name," Gadget said. "Cape name that is, not your real one."

"Gloria," Vicky replied.

"And going by your socks, you find math class abhorrently boring too?" she replied, glancing down at the only visible part of Vicky's school uniform.

"No, I just wanted to stop a criminal," Vicky replied.

"Ohhhhh that's a good excuse, I'll have to remember that one," the girl told her while she was putting handcuffs around the firespitter's hands.

"You mind letting me go?" Vicky asked.

"Talos?" Gadget asked.

Talos, who was busy helping someone restore his cart, turned around and mumbled something. Someone somewhere must have heard her and replied, because Talos's body language suddenly changed, and became a little shy.

"No ma'am, I'm not asking her that that's… No, it's…"

"Ahh, that must have been a good one, haven't seen Talos this flustered since that whole beach monster thing, sis must've got her good," Gadget said.

"You have a sister? I though you were, like, Armsmaster's lost daughter or something," Vicky said.

"She's adopted," Gadget replied. "Cool gal tough, as long as she's targeted at someone else."

Then, she turned to her ally. "Talos, we've got someone here that actually wants to go to school for some reason, you mind letting her out?"

Talos however, was still focused on her earpiece, and whatever the girl behind it had said.

"Anyway, I gotta scram or my lil' sis will get worried. You gals have this under control?" Vicky asked as she used her enhanced strength to break her legs free. The material had been strong, but it had imprisoned her with the idea that she wouldn't be able to get any leverage if she was packed in tight. However, her flight and strength were part of the same package, and her ability to destroy stuff had very little to do with her muscles or leverage, given the way she could maneuver in mid-air.

"Sure thing. I mean, protocol demands that we ask you all sorts of questions and shit, but, if you actually want to go to school…" Gadget replied, barely fazed by the fact that she'd torn free of the ground.

That was when Talos turned around, having noticed that Vicky had broken free of her bonds. She seemed to be mildly annoyed at the fact, and when Vicky saw the ground beneath her move again, she made her way upwards quickly, moving out of the cape's range.

Below her, she could just barely make out their argument, with Talos being annoyed that Gadget let her go, while seemingly being afraid to really start yelling at her boss's daughter.

Idly, Vicky wondered if this was what the old Wards had been like, before the collapse. Back when they'd been an official team being babysat by the government. Back when there had been a government.


End file.
